Dementia

ARTICLES ABOUT DEMENTIA BY DATE - PAGE 2

Diabetes, prediabetes management The Washington County Health Department will offer a program for people who are at high-risk of developing Type 2 diabetes or people who have diabetes. The program will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Sept. 28 through Oct. 26. Class will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church, 15 Randolph Ave., Hagerstown. The five-week program costs $25. The program is designed to assist people with prediabetes and diabetes in making important lifestyle changes.

WILLIAMSPORT - On Friday, June 5, a memorial service for the late Melissa "Missy" Link was held on the campus of Williamsport Retirement Village. Because of a rainy day, the accompanying tree planting was postponed until June 9. According to Jordyn Shifler, director of communications for WRV, the services were to honor Link, a special employee who recently died. Link, who had been a floor aide since 2002, worked with Alzheimer's/dementia residents and had a "special touch" with them.

Charges against a Hagerstown couple charged with obtaining property of a vulnerable adult in a case involving a Boonsboro dementia victim have been forwarded to Washington County Circuit Court, court officials said. The state filed papers forwarding the cases to Circuit Court, where the cases will be set for trial, Washington County District Court officials said Tuesday. The couple was charged after Boonsboro-area residents told authorities last year about a man who was suffering from dementia, living in unsanitary conditions and keeping warm with a cook range after his heat was turned off, according to court records.

Coming Tuesday Exploitation probe: The investigation of suspected financial exploitation of a Boonsboro man who was suffering from dementia is part of an effort by local authorities to crack down on the problem, officials say.

WILLIAMSPORT - Homewood at Williamsport on Friday announced plans to construct a $17 million health-care center. The new 80-bed nursing home will replace the existing facility, which has 123 nursing beds and 17 assisted-living beds, said Rich Lenehan, executive director of Homewood. The building, which will be at the corner of Virginia Avenue and Governor Lane Boulevard, is expected to be completed in 2009. The new two-story building will be larger than the existing nursing facility, which was built in the early 1950s, Lenehan said.

Dementia, or brain failure, is a devastating disease afflicting millions of people worldwide. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, followed by blood vessel disease of the brain (vascular dementia). Until recently, there were few options for treatment. But that is changing. As research expands into understanding the causes of these conditions, treatments are becoming available. Right now there is no medication or treatment which cures or reverses Alzheimer's or vascular dementia.

An assisted living community for people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia will open its doors to the public Saturday afternoon. Eden Pines, off Eastern Boulevard in Hagerstown, will offer tours and refreshments to caregivers, relatives, referral sources and anyone else interested in residential assisted living for memory-impaired people. The 18,000-square-foot, 32-room facility accommodates 50 to 55 residents and offers three levels of memory care. Eden Pines took its first resident in December and is now up to 11 residents, according to Dawn Nally, the facility administrator.